Q: Where can I search if my bottle design already has a patent or not?

A: The Library of Congress. This is something that we offer under a limited low-cost retainer because the legal service is "unteathered"

Please feel free to contact my office if you would like a free consultation.

Aubrey C. Galloway III Esq

Law Office of Aubrey C. Galloway III, Esq PC

2 Overhill Rd. Suite 400

Scarsdale NY, 10583

914-912-1555

AG3LAW.COM

A: There are two types of patents that one should consider: utility patents and design patents.

If your bottle does something more than just keep the contents within it, such as a lip which prevents dribbles, or contains a mechanism that relays via WiFi the temperature of the contents to your cell phone, or the bottle re-orders itself when the level of the content is getting low, etc., then you will likely want to search the utility patents.

On the other hand, if your bottle is just a bottle, but it has some unique shape, then you will likely want to search the design patents. In this case, go to https://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspcd09/schedd09.htm

and scroll down to 516 to 575, and match the classification to your bottle. You can click on the class to determine how the class is defined. You can click on the red P on the left, to go to all the patents on bottles of that class. You can also click on the blue A to go to all the published patent applications on bottles of that class. Please note that your bottle may likely fall within more than one class, thus you should expect to search multiple classes.

Good luck!